New Myanmar Cabinet Members Face Questions About Academic Credentials

National League for Democracy shows relative lack of experience in government

Aung San Suu Kyi in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, on March 1. Photo: European Pressphoto Agency

YANGON—Myanmar’s parliament confirmed that new ruling party leader Aung San Suu Kyi and 17 other ministers will make up the country’s incoming cabinet, despite concerns about the academic qualifications of some of its members.
Specific portfolios weren't announced Thursday and no questions were raised by lawmakers in the brief 15-minute session of the full parliament. Ms. Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy has an overwhelming majority there since November elections ended a half-century of military dominance.
But the lack of government experience in the party, where senior ranks are populated mostly by activists and former political prisoners, was on display Thursday with the ministerial approval of Kyaw Win, who confirmed he was tapped to be the minister of finance and planning.
Mr. Kyaw Win’s official resume, circulated by the NLD this week, said he had a Ph.D. in finance from the defunct Brooklyn Park University, one of several phony online institutions created by a group in Pakistan that sold fraudulent degrees online. That group, which set up a number of fake universities, is under investigation by Pakistani authorities.
“I did some online coursework to complete that Ph.D. and only later on did I know this was a fake university,” said Mr. Kyaw Win. He said he was called before the NLD’s executive committee this week to “explain the situation with his education.”

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Mr. Kyaw Win said he sent an incorrect resume with the Brooklyn Park University qualifications to the party by mistake. According to his résumé, he holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from the Yangon Institute of Economics and is an economic adviser to the party.
His position as head of finance and planning is an important one because Myanmar is one of Asia’s poorest economies and is in the process of joining the international financial system.
Separately, Than Myint, who will likely head the ministry of commerce, has a Ph.D. from the Pacific Western University (California), according to his official resume. The defunct school, which wasn’t accredited, was found by a U.S. congressional investigation to be a diploma mill that issued degrees without requiring students to meet stringent criteria of academic merit.
On Thursday, Mr. Than Myint said he spent more than seven years working on his Ph.D. and didn’t simply pay for his qualifications.
“I wrote many papers and my doctoral thesis, but it was distance learning,” he said, adding that he “did not know why” the university shut down later on. He said he had to submit his thesis and other documentation to the party this week.
Party officials say they believe both ministers are qualified for their posts. But they said they are looking into their qualifications and have asked them to present all appropriate documentation.
Some economic advisers and lawmakers in the outgoing, military-linked government also faced questions about their academic credentials.
Dishonesty or an inaccurate resume aren't grounds under Myanmar’s constitution for rejecting a minister, said Richard Horsey, an independent Yangon-based analyst, but parliament “could have asked questions about it and chose not to.”
“It reinforces the impression that this parliament will do what the party instructs,’’ Mr. Horsey said. “It is an important check and balance which appears not to be there yet, but might develop over time.”
Ms. Suu Kyi, meanwhile, is expected to take on multiple portfolios in the cabinet, including minister of the president’s office and minister of foreign affairs. She is barred from the presidency by a constitution written under the former military regime because she has close foreign relatives. Her two sons are British, as was her late husband.
Ms. Suu Kyi, who won the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize for leading a nonviolent struggle against military rule, is regarded by many people in Myanmar as their rightful leader. A close confidant, Htin Kyaw, has been named president. Ms. Suu Kyi has said she will control the presidency from behind the scenes.
Zaw Myint Maung, an NLD spokesman, has confirmed that Ms. Suu Kyi will take the role of foreign minister and declined to comment on other portfolios. He added that this means she will hold a position on the National Defense and Security Council, the most important executive body with powers including the ability to rule in a state of emergency.

By

Shibani Mahtani and

Myo Myo

Updated March 24, 2016 6:02 a.m. ET 


Write to Shibani Mahtani at shibani.mahtani@wsj.com

 Ref ;  The Wall Street Journal